Does visual experience influence the spatial distribution of auditory attention?

Abstract

Sighted individuals are less accurate and slower to localize sounds coming from the peripheral space than sounds coming from the frontal space. This specific bias in favour of the frontal auditory space seems reduced in early blind individuals, who are particularly better than sighted individuals at localizing sounds coming from the peripheral space. Currently, it is not clear to what extent this bias in the auditory space is a general phenomenon or if it applies only to spatial processing (i.e. sound localization). In our approach we compared the performance of early blind participants with that of sighted subjects during a frequency discrimination task with sounds originating either from frontal or peripheral locations. Results showed that early blind participants discriminated faster than sighted subjects both peripheral and frontal sounds. In addition, sighted subjects were faster at discriminating frontal sounds than peripheral ones, whereas early blind participants showed equal discrimination speed for frontal and peripheral sounds. We conclude that the spatial bias observed in sighted subjects reflects an unbalance in the spatial distribution of auditory attention resources that is induced by visual experience.

The Role of Visual Experience in Auditory Space Perception around the Legs

“…This finding suggests that the presence of vision emphasizes the frontal space with respect to the back. The conclusion that frontal and back spaces are differently affected by previous visual experience is in line with previous studies showing better performance of blind people compared to sighted in the back space for auditory discrimination 31 , self-localization 41 , and frequency discrimination tasks with sounds originating either from frontal or peripheral locations 42 . Here, we demonstrated that frontal and back spaces are differently affected by previous visual experience for space around the legs, using a front-back discrimination task, where sighted participants were found to be more accurate than blind participants in the frontal space.…”

“…These studies have concentrated their efforts in frontal space, where vision likely plays a principal role in calibrating hearing 37–39 . Although fewer studies have compared auditory spatial perception in frontal and back space 17,40 , results have shown that blind and sighted people are similarly accurate in localizing sound in the frontal space, while in the back and median space, blind people outperform sighted 31,41,42 . However, these studies investigated space around the head, where stimuli have a greater saliency compared to other parts of the body 43 .…”

The Cross-Modal Effects of Sensory Deprivation on Spatial and Temporal Processes in Vision and Audition: A Systematic Review on Behavioral and Neuroimaging Research since 2000

“…Within the context of reaction time assessments , blind individuals did not only exhibit a higher sensitivity in terms of accurate location detection within the periphery but also reacted faster to stimuli presented in the periphery and in the frontal visual field [70]. Moreover, compared to sighted individuals, blind individuals did not react slower to stimuli in the periphery than the frontal field [70]. The question arises whether this generally faster reaction to auditory stimuli results from better spatial localization, enhanced temporal processing, or a combination of the two.…”

The Sound of Vision Project: On the Feasibility of an Audio-Haptic Representation of the Environment, for the Visually Impaired

“…The early blind participants in Lerens and Renier’s study were either congenitally blind or became blind within the first 3 years of life. The difference between the results of Lerens and Renier [ 20 ] and Fieger et al [ 19 ] may be a consequence of when the participants became blind. Furthermore, the level of blindness might also affect sound localization performance of VIPs.…”

“…Fieger et al [ 19 ] concluded that both CBs and LBs process peripheral auditory stimuli more efficiently than sighted people while using differing mechanisms. In a more recent study Lerens and Renier [ 20 ] found that EBs responded faster to auditory stimuli than SCs irrespective of whether the stimuli were presented from straight ahead or from the periphery (± 90° from center). The early blind participants in Lerens and Renier’s study were either congenitally blind or became blind within the first 3 years of life.…”